Fall Season of ‘Big Brother’ to Air on CBS All Access

New Season is Expected to Be Shortened to 10 Weeks

The rumors are true…sort of. In an effort to drum up interest in SVOD service CBS All Access, CBS has announced an upcoming fall season of summer reality staple “Big Brother.” This won’t be the first time “Big Brother” will be scheduled outside of the summer. The ninth edition aired in first quarter 2008 as a result of the then Writers Guild of America strike. And this edition, No. 19, will run for an expected 10 weeks (versus the normal 13) and is expected to begin shortly after the current season finale on Sept. 19. It will be produced by the same team that makes the broadcast version and will feature a new cast of houseguests.

Also featured on CBS All Access, and in 2017, will be the upcoming new “Star Trek” series, titled “Star Trek: Discovery,” and the untitled spin-off of “The Good Wife” headlined by Christine Baranski and Cush Jumbo.

CBS All Access is already the platform for the “Big Brother” live feeds, which allows viewers to check in on the houseguests in between new episodes, in addition to letting subscribers watch old seasons of the series.

Marc Berman has been writing professionally since 1999 and is the author of the “Mr. Television” for Campaign US (www.campaignlive.com). Most recently, Berman was the creator and Editor-in-Chief of website and newsletter TV Media Insights for Cross MediaWorks. From 1999-2011, he was the Senior Editor for Mediaweek and has also written for The New York Daily News, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Emmy Magazine, among others. Berman has also appeared on “Entertainment Tonight,” “Extra,” “Access Hollywood,” “Inside Edition,” “The CBS Evening News,” E!, CNN, CNBC, Fox News and MSNBC.

13 Comments

Yeah guys this does seem like a ploy just to get people to watch CBS All-Access. They could easily just put the season up on Pop TV or something if this wasn’t about getting the show up on All-Access plus this season has turned into a real dud after a strong start.

In the past 24 hours, I am completely done with Paulie, after his bullying and intimidating tactics upon Zakiyah and labeling her a vindictive b**** to the other guys in the house. And a big thumbs down to Nicole who is an enabler to Paulie’s newly disgusting behavior.

Exactly that’s why I’ve lost interest because I felt like Paulie should’ve been one of the first people gone, he doesn’t even know how to play but it’s looking like he’s going to win. I really liked how aggressive Tiffany and Frank were at the game and they’re gone now. Too many floaters still left in the house for my taste as well.

I see what you mean I watched After Dark the last couple of nights and he has become a bully and trying to act like the leader now. I hope somebody will evict him, it may have to be one of the boys he thinks he can trust.

I heard about that one I wish I would’ve caught that, I deleted on Wednesday morning for DVR space. I think James will be that guy since he’s really close to the other girls and I’m sure Da’Vonne going home rubbed him the wrong way. I watched James last night and he seemed to be playing Paulie and the boys giving them information. I think James has a plan. Michelle was crying in Thursday’s episode last night.

I’m a HUGE BB fan but very skeptical of this plan. BB19 might be hard to follow and I’ll miss the TV component.

Rumor is Chenbot won’t host BB19 (it’ll be BB11/BB13 Jeff Schroeder to host) and despite complaints of BB18, the production level of an online-only BB will be much lower. I’d estimate BB19 online viewership to draw 1-4% of BB18 episode viewers on CBS-TV and it’ll face the new fall TV shows, NFL, MLB and the crazy presidential election.

Wouldn’t have minded a Dec-Feb BB19. CBS-TV would benefit drawing young crowds + BB fans would be All Access subscribers for 10 more weeks.

I fear that this upcoming 19th edition will be considered minor-league and devalue this successful franchise.